Awesome Keyboard (especially for beginners)July 26, 2006 7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I got this keyboard close to a year ago. I've been pleased with it ever since. I've had very very basic lessons in piano playing, and that was several years ago. This keyboard has probably...I'd say 200-300 different *instruments.* It has a whole section of sound effects (i.e., fireworks, footsteps, animals, etc). There's plenty of instruments to keep you occupied. Then there are dozens of songs that you can learn. A few I've done are Fur Elise, Killing Me Softly, The Entertainer...and there are several I'm working on. All in all, this is an excellent keyboard if you want a relativly inexpensive instrument that's versatile and easy to use. The sound is quite good too. Naturally it doesn't have the acoustics of a true piano, but most keyboards don't. (Unless, of course, you'd be willing to spend $3,000.) I have the sustain pedal as well, which is about 20 bucks extra, and I love it. It's excellent. However, if you're a serious pianist or learner, then this probably isn't the keyboard for you, since the keys aren't weighted (which means they don't have weights to make them feel like real piano keys) and it's not a full keyboard, so you won't be able to play many "real" songs on it. (Most songs such as David Lanz or really any artist require the use of all the octaves and this keyboard chops off about 2 and a half.) But keyboards that have all the octaves and are weighted run around $500 and up. So I'd say this is a good investment if you don't plan to be a serious player any time soon, or if you want it for your kids or whatever.
I will say that the stand it comes with doesn't fit right. My dad had to drill a hole in the stand to bring it to the right position and we fiddled with it for a while before getting the keyboard to sit well on the stand. Also, you can't just plug headphones in. You MUST have a headphone adaptor, or it won't work.
Other than that, I'd say this is a good buy. I certainly love it.
Yamaha KeyboardMarch 11, 2006 7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've had the keyboard about a month now, and I have mostly positive things to say about it. I'm an actual piano player who would rather have just a regular piano (can't afford it) so I haven't even read the manual to find out about the special features, computer compatibility, etc. Mostly I just like to play, and the sound and touch-sensitivity is the most important thing for me. The grand piano sounds pretty good, and there are tons of other "voices" as well (again, I don't explore much). Touch sensitivity is good, but I noticed the sustain pedal doesn't hold the sound for very long. It fades very quickly, which was not the case with my previous Yamaha keyboard. That's about the only thing that I don't like about it. The stand that comes with the package works just fine -- don't listen to the reviewers who say otherwise. It's adjustable, and is not supposed to fit into the slots on the bottom of the keyboard. It's quite stable and easy to put together.
Very nice.March 9, 2006 6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having no practical experience with real pianos, we purchased this keyboard for our young daughter who is just starting piano lessons. So far, we're very pleased with it. The keys are full-sized, touch-sensitive (variable loudness), and polyphonic (simultaneously pressed keys produce multiple notes) -- so it approximates a real piano in a learning situation. It has a fairly nice sound as well -- but don't expect a grand piano sound for $200. It seems like a good starter for a child that allows a parent to gauge their level of interest and commitment before making a major investment in a digital or traditional piano. The stand is OK for the price -- the base is a little narrow and makes the setup a bit wobbly on a rug.
Simple despite lots of features, good sound, great price. The stand is the right one.January 8, 2006 20 out of 21 found this review helpful
I bought this for Christmas (2005). All my family members love it.
It has lots and lots of features, many of which I still haven't learnt nor tried yet, but the bottomline is this: Despite all the features, the basic functionality as the keyboard is simple enough even for my kids (younger one still in kinder), and the sound quality is very good for the price.
1: Simple to use Switch it on. Play it. Simple as that. Use jog dial to change sound (like organ, saxophone, vibraphone etc.). Lots of fun (some sounds really good, some bad). Press "portable grand" button to immediately go back to piano sound. A dedicated metronome button conveniently lets me access metronome for practice. I especially liked this. Useful functionality with simple interface. Press "tempo" and use jog dial to change tempo.
2: Good sound I don't think the portable-grand mode sounds like "cheap electronic keyboard". Rather, it sounds to me like some piano on my car stereo. It's good, somewhat hampered mainly by the built-in amplifier and small speakers (and probably to lesser extent by sampled sound itself). Using a good headphone helps a bit if you have one, and I assume using an external amp should also help. No it doesn't sound like a really-real piano. If you need that, probably you'll need a good "digital piano" (not digital keyboard) plus good amplifier. You have to pay MUCH more for digital piano alone, even for entry level instruments like YAMAHA P90. Me, I'm just satisfied with this. (However, all of the "guitar"s, especially acoustic ones, sounds very crappy. Maybe I'm too harsh because I play real guitars, but when I played this "guitar" sound, my wife couldn't tell what instrument it was supposed to be.)
3. Stand was the correct one At first I didn't understand one of the spotlight reviewers' complaint about the stand. Mine was good for the keyboard, and the dimension of the thing was just the same as on YAMAHA web page. Later it occured to me that probably he misunderstands the "built-in arm-rests on the underside of the keyboard". There are two straight short grooves underside of the keyboard. These are meant for bolting on sturdier, fixed-height stand, like YAMAHA YZ and YAMAHA L3C. These models are supposed to fit snugly into the grooves and be bolted, for heavier use. OTOH, YAMAHA PKBS1 has oversized arms because the edges on the bottom of the keyboard would sit on them.
Please remember, this is X-style, height-adjustable stand. First check out PKBS1 on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006AMBW/103-4081268-0691001?v=glance&n=172282
Or you can go to YAMAHA website and see the picture if you like: http://yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/accessorydetail/0,,CNTID%253D15268%2526CTID%253D209100%2526CNTYP%253DPRODUCT,00.html
Imagine what happens if the arms fit snugly into the grooves underside of the keyboard and you cannot change the distance between two arms. Can you still adjust the height? I think I can't.
Anyway, this stand is good enough for my family learning at home. For home use, I think you don't have to buy another stand unless you want the ultimate stability or something like that.
Great PriceDecember 25, 2005 5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I think it is a great deal for the price of $189 with the stand and free shipping. Costco has the same model but would have had to pay shipping and taxes. I was able to test this with the 305 and 505 and the more you pay the better the instrument! The one downside I have found is that the headphone plug is in the back and not on the side so access is not as easy as it could be. As an aside to another reviewer: The knob on the adjustment for the stand was broken and they just threw it inside the box! Gorilla glue works wonders!
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